


If I Hadn't.

by dyingDreamer



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Abuse, DAVE AND KARKAT ARE GENDERBENT, Dave is scarred, F/F, Flashbacks, It will make sense later, but really it's going to start dark, collegeAU, dumb camping, let me repeat genderbent as well, trans!Dirk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-06
Updated: 2017-03-06
Packaged: 2018-09-30 00:34:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10148882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dyingDreamer/pseuds/dyingDreamer
Summary: Dave was normal. Then it happened. And now, she's not. She can hardly talk to others. When Rose Lalonde makes her go on a bonding excursion with her new graduating class, she hardly expects to meet a group of people who may be able to bring her back to where she was before the incident.Lot's of flashbacks.





	

**Author's Note:**

> pretty dark.

Dave shoved her hands deeper into her pockets and put her head down. She knew, on one hand, that Rose was probably right. She didn’t get out enough. Freshman year of college was the perfect time to expand her limited social circle. But on the other hand, she had survived up to this point? What reason was there to change?

 

Dave was now waiting outside a tour bus with another fifty-odd members of her new graduating class about to embark on some Exciting Weekend Excursions to semi-local scenic locations. She hadn’t signed up or put her credit card down for the actually relatively small fee. That had been all Rose’s doing. 

 

Dave tried to put her hands deeper into her pockets and blend in. She would so much rather be hiding in her dorm room or even watching Dirk complain about his awful relationship prospects. Which was pretty bad. She tried to keep from fidgeting or doing something with her hands to distract herself. Her shades weren’t dark enough. No. Way. The sun was far too bright.

 

She didn’t plan on looking for a friendly eye. Her social circle of her siblings, John, and Jade was enough for a casual weekend. Or even to share classes with. The college they were at wasn’t even that far away. They met up.

 

Over just a few feet away a group of kids were talking. The commotion was just enough to temporarily distract Dave from her increasing anxiety. Just enough.

 

She turned around and saw a group of three kids. One was tall and thin. Another was sort of short, curvier, and had red Dirk-like glasses and a cane. The third was even shorter than the other two and was violently gesticulating at her companions. Dave would guess the tall one was Asian, and the two shorter ones were Korean. 

 

“What?” Yelled the shortest one. “It’s rigged. The game was rigged. This is all an e-frickin-laborate plot to make me - yes me, the one-and-only Karkat Vantas, - spend my weekends with some insufferable douche?”

 

The red-glasses one looked back at the one name Karkat. “Karkles, calm down. It was totally legit. You just lost rock-paper-scissors to a blind girl and a hacker. Deal with it.”

 

Karkat took a big-inhale, looking ready to launch back into a triade. 

 

The hacker looked up from typing on his phone. “Shut up KK. You heard Terezi.” Dave noticed a slight lisp on the s’s. Very subtle though. Dave could dig it. 

 

Karkat threw her hands up. “Fine! Fine, I see how it is. You make me partner up-”

 

Dave interjected, feeling moderately bad for interjecting in their conversation, but recognizing that they were so loud, everyone probably heard. 

 

“Wait what?” She said. “Whats this about partners?”   
  


The blind girl picked up her cane and swung it around in the general direction of a girl with a blue dress. A blue dress. Wasn’t this the wilderness? “Her.”

 

The tall one jumped in. “Aranea.” He said with a scowl. The other two cringed as well. “Aranea, our absolutely perfect tour guide, has ordered that, as we are an even party, we all need partners.” 

 

Karkat scowled. 

 

Dave felt her anxiety rise just a little bit. Partners?

 

Karkat nodded, watching Dave’s reaction. “And these awful juggalo replacements decided that the completely random game of rps,” 

 

The tall kid mouthed, “rock paper scissors.”

 

Dave nodded and looked back at the girl.

 

“And you know what, rps it was - not taking into account at ALL individual preferences and pre-existing conditions!”

 

Dave nodded again, ready to turn around.

 

The tall kid interjected, stopping her before she flipped around. “Wait. Stop.”

 

Dave stopped.

 

The tall kid continued. “The name is Sollux.” He turned to his friends. “And this is Terezi and Karkat. Pleased to meet you. And to cut to the chase, can you partner with Karkat for this excursion so that she stops whining?”

 

Dave looked at Karkat. She had an outraged expression on her face but a secretly almost hopeful one buried deep. Even Dave could see it, through the shades. 

 

Dave looked at the group cautiously. Although, yeah, she didn’t want to do the whole partner thing at all, something told her Aranea would probably force her into it. Maybe this kid wasn’t quiet, but at least she wasn’t too annoying. 

 

“The name is Dave.” She said. She noticed Karkat open her mouth then slam it shut. Probably had to do with the name. It was always an issue with the name. Thank goodness this kid was willing to shut up about the sensitive stuff. “And I guess.” She smiled, feeling a little bit of the way she used to feel rush in, the overly confident and cocky attitude rush back in. “I’ll walk with the princess, keep her from tripping.”

 

Karkat’s face flared up. “Whitebread.” She muttered.

 

Terezi smiled, looking just left of Dave’s face. “Wonderful. Karkles gets a walking partner and Sollux and I’s ears get a break. Thanks coolkid.” She winked. Or at least, Dave was pretty sure she winked. The facial movements around the glasses lined up - but then again she could have just scrunched her nose. Dave wasn’t sure? Dave stopped, and took a deep breath. She was overthinking this. Way too much. She tried to force another smile, uncomfortable now, and almost sad now that the rush of confidence had disappeared, leaving behind an awful void that despair rushed to fill in.

 

Up front, Aranea clapped her hands. “Alright everyone! Time to line up! Get with your partner and let’s start walking.”

 

_ Houston, Texas. _

_ June 20, 2015. _

 

_ Daia Elizabeth Strider smiled, dropping glasses low over the bridge of her nose and cocking her head while John told another wild pranking story. School had just gotten out for summer - junior year was done, and senior year was far off enough into the future that it could do nothing to dampen her mood. _

 

_ Daia reached her apartment building, said goodbye to John, and rushed up the stairs, pulling the door open while reaching for her phone. _

 

_ TG: sis where you at _

_ TT: Sorry, Kanaya asked me to come over for a week. _

_ TG: kanaya? who’s that? _

_ TT: New friend. _

_ TG: … _

_ TT: “...”? _

_ TG: nothin _

_ TT: Daia, my dear sister, understanding that I am a legal adult and will be heading off to university next year, I think I'll be perfectly safe staying at a friend's house for a few nights. _

_ TG: yeah, i guess _

_ TG: catch you later _

_ TT: Have a good night. _

_ TG: … _

_ TG: ... _

_ TG: sounds suss _

_ TG: ;) _

 

_ Daia sighed and smiled while rolling her eyes. Rose could be pretty mysterious but then again, she knew she should trust the occult and Rose was an adult anyway. She passed through the main living area of the apartment she, twin Dianna, and oldest brother Dean shared. Roxy, her oldest sister had lived with them for a while, but now she was off at college doing a mix of science and computer programming. _

 

_ Daia stopped in the bathroom on the way to her room. Although there were some smuppets and other weird paraphernalia of Dean's, the mirror was still visible and Daia used that to watch herself as she centered the long blonde pony tail she had kept since forever. _

 

_ Finally, with a light smile dusting her usually purposefully stoic face, she prepared to open the door the room she shared with Dianna, flop on the bed, and get some sleep before Dianna came home from robotics club. _

 

_ So she wasn't anticipating it when she opened the door and saw Dianna crying on the ground. _

 

 

Aranea led at the front of the line.

 

“Where are we going?” muttered Dave.

 

Karkat looked at her with disgust. “Did you pay attention? We’re heading to the Lolar Waterfall.”

 

Dave nodded mutely and continued to look down at the ground as they walked. She could feel Karkat’s gaze on her, but tried not to let it register.

 

After perhaps five minutes of uncomfortable silence, Karkat broke in.

 

“What's your problem?”

 

Dave looked up. 

 

Karkat pointed to Terezi and Sollux some distance up ahead in the tightly packed line. “Dave, everyone but you is at least pretending to have some fun. Even Terezi is. And she’s blind. And the terrain is pretty rocky and I don’t even know how she can walk without falling over. And even Sollux is too. And he never wants to leave the house. Don’t you see how … how pretty it is out here?” She gestured wildly to the fauna.

 

“Like, the way the light is coming down? The trees are greener? How do you not want to just, have fun?” She sighed.

 

Dave looked around, following where Karkat pointed. Truth be told, she hadn’t really noticed any of it. It sort of all looked the same, a muted grey-green. But now, when Karkat was pointing out specific things, she was starting to see a little more of what maybe everyone else in the line saw. But only a little bit. The little voice in her head was telling her to keep her head down. “Yeah. It looks nice.” She put her head down and hands in her pockets.

 

Karkat was exasperated. They continued to walk while Karkat made an honest effort to point out all the other pretty sights. 

 

Aranea stopped the line at the front and clapped her hands. “It’s time for a quick break! Look to your left.” 

 

Dave looked to her left. There was an awfully large tree but nothing else very noteworthy.

 

Aranea continued. “Isn’t it lovely? Look at it, that’s the largest tree in the state. We call it the Viceroy, short for Viceroy Von Salamancer, the first head of the Environmental Committee and the founder of the organization that protects all these lands from deforestation! Like Von Salamancer, this Viceroy presides over the forest and, some say, shelters little animals in storms.” She chuckled. 

 

Karkat whipped out a camera Dave hadn’t noticed she’d had. She looked at her again and noticed she was carrying a backpack. A backpack? She hadn’t brought one. “Were we supposed to bring a backpack?”   
  


Karkat rolled her eyes. “Yeah, duh, for snacks and water.” She looked at her more closely, and with a softer expression. “Do you need to borrow anything. In fact, have you ever been on a hike?”

 

Dave shrugged. “I lived in the city, on the top floor of an apartment building. I’m not sure if I ever saw more than one tree at a time.”

 

“Then why are you here?”

 

“My sister - she’s great, Rose Lalonde? Do you know her?”

 

Karkat smiled. “You mean the only one in my advanced writing class who always exceeds the page limit by more than ten and manages to psychoanalyze the teacher? Yeah, of course I know her.”

 

“Yeah, so, seeing as I was coming to a new school, she wanted me to get out and stuff. Experience life. Maybe make some new friends.” Dave wasn’t sure why she was opening up so much. “I always had about the same squad in high school, and they all came here as well, so I’m not sure why it’s an issue, but whatever. I’m supposed to make some new friends.”

 

Karkat nodded. “So what’s with the shades?”

 

“Oh these?” Dave tapped them lightly on the frames, making sure not to smudge the lenses. “Sensitive eyes.”

 

“BS.” Karkat asserted.

 

“Yes.” Dave said.

 

“Prove it.” Karkat responded.

 

“Nah.” Dave said with a smirk. “You’re just going to have to trust the Strider word for it.”

 

Karkat crinkled her nose. “Strider? What sort of name is that?”

 

“You ask about the last name but not the first?”

 

“I didn’t wanna be impolite. So what sort of last name is Strider?”

 

“What’s your last name?” Dave paused for effect. “And, for the record, Strider is a way more cool last name than anything yours could possibly.” 

 

Karkat rolled her eyes. “It’s Vantas.”

 

“Like the cancer drug?”

 

“No, like Vantas.”

 

“Thank’s for clarifying that.” Dave looked around, feeling a little lighter and more conspiratorially. “Is this turning into a lighting round?”

 

“What’s that?”

 

“Like, I ask you a question, and you ask me a question. We keep doing that until one of us hits on something a bit too uncool and personal and we stop.”

 

“I guess that sounds alright. Me first. Why’s your last name Strider but Rose’s is Lalonde?”

 

Dave nodded. “My mom died giving birth to me and my brother. Never knew my dad. Bro was too young to take custody so me and my siblings got shuffled off to some foster homes. Me and Dirk’s let us keep the Strider name, but Rose and Roxy had to change theirs to Lalonde. They’re still pretty close with their foster mome tho, they spend a lot of time with her on vacations and stuff. Upstate New York.”

 

“That’s pretty close.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Ok your turn.”

 

Dave waited to think of a question, combing her fingers through her short cut hair.

 

_ Houston, Texas. _

_ June 20, 2015. _

 

_ “Diana? What on earth.” Daia said, trying not to let some uncool concern creep into her voice. But she was pretty scared. Diana never cried. Or tended to show emotion.  _

 

_ Diana lifted her face up from the ground. Daia had a little start. Diana had cut off all her hair.  _

 

_ “Diana? What on earth.” Daia said, trying not to let some uncool concern creep into her voice. But she was pretty scared. Diana never cried. Or tended to show emotion. _

_ Diana tried to stop crying, sniffling a little bit as she gulped hard. “I….I don’t expect you to understand.” _

_ “What happened to your hair?” _

_ “I…I” she started to cry again. “Cut it all off.” _

_ “But why?” _

_ “I just,” and the waterworks reached a new peak. “I didn’t think it would look this bad.” She said with a chocked laugh. “Frick. I didn’t really… I wasn’t really thinking.” _

_ “Yeah. So?” Daia reached up and removed her shades slowly, trying to focus on Diana even though her relatively sensitive eyes were having trouble adjusting to the light. She lifted a hand to shade them. _

_ “I just. I don’t know. I don’t think you can understand. I just… I just wanted to look the way I.” She took a big breath. “I just wanted to look the way I feel. Inside.” _

_ Daia’s heart stopped a little bit. “Dianna?” She looked at her sister hard. “What do you mean?” _

_ Diana ran her hand through her hair, looking to the side. “Like I said, I don’t think you would… you would get it. I’ve just always felt like, like this isn’t who I’m supposed to be, you know? This, this body isn’t me. The way I look isn’t me.” _

_ “What are you trying to say?” _

_ “Daia I’m … I’m probably trans. Like, transgender. You know, I’ve always felt wrong, and I’m always going to feel wrong and uncomfortable and gross. I thought that like, this would make me feel better. It didn’t.” _

_ “Diana?” _

_ “Just. Daia you don’t have a sister.” _

_ “Diana?” _

_ “You have a brother. And you always will.” _

_ “Shit D…. D… what should…” _

_ “Dirk.” _

_ Daia paused. “Dirk?” _

_ “Yeah.” _

_ “Ok.” Daia wanted her shades back, she felt a little bit too vunerable and confused. “Dirk what the hell are we going to tell Dean.” _

 

Dave finally decided. “What … I know this is gonna sound rude but hear me out. What exactly is your ethnicity? Like I’m looking at you and I just can’t tell.”

 

Karkat scoffed. “Yeah I get that a lot.” She took a deep breath and narrowed her eyes. “자지, 

당신의 하얀 엉덩이는 레이블이 있다면 두 명의 아시아 인에게 따로 말할 수 없습니다.”

 

Terezi flipped around from further up in the line and smiled at Dave, yelling over those between them. “You just got OWNED.” 

 

Sollux nodded. “I don’t even speak korean but have heard enough of KK’s rants to know that wasn’t very pleasant. Or civil.”

 

Karkat smiled. “I’m half.”

 

Terezi added on. “But she can swear fluently.”

 

Karkat nodded and continued. “My dad’s pretty white but my mom died from cancer before I really got to know her. Dad had to work all the time so I spent most of the day with my mom’s dad, my grandpa who didn’t know anything but Korean. So I got pretty fluent fast. The swears came later.” She shrugged. “Dad was always on business trips so it’s not like I knew him that much when I was young anyway.

 

“Karkat that’s pretty sad.”

 

“Nah, it’s fine. We called him the “sam-yeoung ob-sing,” or signless because that was his nickname as a kid. I think I reminded him of mom because we were pretty close.”

 

“Why Signless?”

 

Karkat let out a laugh, less forced and more breathy. “Some people say it’s because he was a hard dealer when he was young as a stockbroker and activist, I guess. Others say he liked to lift license plates off of cars. Who knows.”

 

“Why don’t you swear in English?”

 

“Hey,” Karkat said, lighly complaining. “I don’t see me getting to ask you any questions.”

 

“Well you can’t just say something then not finish!” Said Dave, starting to smile as well.

 

“Ok, I guess.” Karkat shrugged. “Like I said, Korean was basically my first language. It was easier to master swears in that than in like a whole new language. I was a… verbose young child.”

 

_ Houston, Texas. _

 

_ “What do you mean?” Said Di… Dirk widening he.. His eyes.  _

 

_ Daia looked back nervously, unsure. “I just… I don’t think….” _

 

_ Dirk looked defeated suddenly, slumping down and trying to look small. “Damn.” _

 

__ “Frick.”   
  


_ “What’s he going to say. Don’t you think he’ll understand?” _

 

_ Daia looked at the door again, almost expecting Dean to be home at any minute. Of course, that was true. He could be. His work schedule wasn’t exactly… regular. Daia wasn’t exactly sure what he did. “I’m not sure.” _

 

_ They both heard keys jingling in the lock just a room away, it was so silent.  _

 

_ Dirk laughed nervously. “I didn’t really think this through.” _

 

_ “Come on, let’s go together and hope for the best.” _

 

_ “Yeah.” Dirk paused. “Thanks Dave.” He swallowed thickly. “Don’t think we can just pass it off as a spontaneous haircut?” _

 

_ “Not the way you cut it. But we can try though.” _

 

__ “No, I want to do this.”   
  


_ “Are you sure? I don’t… I don’t really think this is a good idea.” _

 

_ “Yeah, I’m sure.” _

 

_ Dirk put his hand in her’s. Daia reached for the door handle and pulled him out to where Dean was standing turned around, putting down some random objects and dvd’s from the RadioShack a block away. _

  
  


Aranea had finally called a real break, a sit down one. The lightning round hadn’t gotten too personal which Dave was eternally grateful for. She went and sat down with the trio.

 

Before she could sit, Terezi lifted up her cane.

 

Dave didn’t know what happened. Her breathing increased, she ducked back a little, and felt adrenaline coursing through her body. 

 

Terezi set down her cane.

 

“Dave?” She said, looking around, trying to… smell him?

 

“Yeah Dave, what’s going on?” Karkat added, looking vaguely concerned.

 

Dave tried to shake it off. “It’s nothing.” He paused. “Really.”

 

Sollux interjected. “You know what, someone has to intervene and it’s going to be me.” Karkat and Terezi looked at him with confusion. “You’ve been sad and mopey all day. You flinch at everything. You put KK on pins and needles. KK. You can’t rattle KK. You don’t say anything without thinking it out hard. And talking to you is like trying to balance on eggshells.” He reached into his backpack and pulled out a sandwich, using it to jab in the air. “What. Is. Your. Deal.”

 

Dave’s throat constricted. “What?”

 

“Auugh.” Sollux whined.

_ Houston, Texas. _

_ (TW FOR LIKE EVERYTHING BAD) _

 

_ “Dean?” Daia said nervously. _

 

_ Dean turned around. “Runt, what do you” he cut himself off. “What is that mess.” He said pointing at Dirk’s hair. “Runt number two. What is that.” _

 

_ Dirk recoiled. “It’s my haircut. Bro, I know you won’t get it right away but I just wanted to tell you that I’ve….” _

 

_ Dean slapped him in the face. “No.” _

 

__ Dirk reached his hand up to his face, eyes blown wide with fear. “I just.”   
  
Dean raised his hand and grimaced, pure anger. “Don’t say it. Don’t say it if you want to live, runt.”

 

_ Daia held Dirk’s hand harder wanting to reach forward, and do, something. Something to stop Dean. But she couldn’t move. She was frozen in place.  _

 

_ “I’m not a girl.” _

 

_ Dean let out an angry deep noise. He walked foward and first landed a punch in Dirk’s gut. He doubled over. Daia was still unable to move. She wanted to, to reach out and grab Dean and shake him and yell what was he doing, this was his family, she couldn’t move. _

 

_ “This,” Dean grunted, “is the body that is and will always be the body of a girl.” _

 

_ Then he, leaned up and smashed his hand into a glancing blow onto the side of Dirk’s head. Dirk dropped to the ground. “This is to the head that will forever hold the brain of a girl.” _

 

_ He pushed past them, as Daia suddenly was able to move again and grabbed Dirk and tried to pull him close, sheltering.  _

 

_ He went into their room and grabbed their phones off of where they had left them and returned.  _

 

_ He held the phones up and dropped them both on the ground. Daia flinched as each hit the linoleum floor and Dean brought his foot up and slammed all his weight into them.  _

 

_ “Get in your room.” He said, face dark and stormy. “And I’ll deal with that… that tranny freak tomorrow. Daia. Try and not be a freak like your freak-up of a sister. And I’ll deal with you tomorrow as well.” _

 

_ Daia gasped as she pulled Dirk up and let him balance on her as she pulled him away past the watchful gaze of Dean. She could hear something be dragged in front of the door as they walked in. They were essentially trapped. _

 

_ “Dirk we need to get you out. Are you ok?” She said. He obviously wasn’t. That was the dumbest thing. _

 

_ Dirk didn’t say anything and pulled himself underneath the bed frame and laid down, looking up and the wires that criss crossed under the mattress. “It really hurts.” He had his hands over his stomach. There was no way his head wasn’t any better. _

 

_ “We need to get you out, to like, a doctor or something.” _

 

_ “How?” Dirk whispered. “We can’t get out the door.”  _

 

_ Daia dropped her voice to a whisper as well, wondering how far away Dean was and for how long he would wait.  _

 

_ Daia reached around in the drawer. “Where’s the scissors.” _

 

_ “Daia what are you doing.” _

 

_ She landed on them and held them triumphantly and reached up to the base of her ponytail, making eye contact with Dirk as she tried to mimic the awful twists and turns of the bad haircut. Finally, she reached out to his face, the pointed shades that had stayed on even past the punch. _

 

_ “No.” Dirk said. “You can’t.” _

 

_ Daia whispered, pulling them off and putting them on instead of hers. “He’s going to kill you.” _

 

_ “No.” _

 

__ “Look what he’s already done. We’re trapped.”   
  


_ “I can’t let you do this.” _

 

_ “You can’t move.” She motioned to the window. “Fire escape.” _

 

_ “I… I can’t make it. Not all the way to the bottom.” _

 

_ “You have to, give yourself a day.” _

 

_ Dirk shuddered. “And then what.” _

 

_ “Call Rose, call someone, get us out of here.” _

 

_ Dirk rolled back from under the bed. “I need to start now. It’s going to take me forever to get down.” _

 

__ Daia paused. “Are you ready?”   
  


__ “Yeah.”   
  


_ Dirk looked awfully unguarded without his shades which protected slightly-less-sensitive gold flaked brown eyes. Nothing like Daia’s red monstrosities. _

 

_ “Sleep tonight, I’ll… I’ll be you tomorrow. Like training, right?” _

 

_ “Yeah.” Dirk tried to pull her face into a small smile that came out hopelessly pained and grotesque.  _

_ _

 

_ “ _ Aaugh” Sollux said. “Just… what’s wrong with you?”

 

Dave felt slapped. 

 

Terezi poked him angrily. “Sollux you don’t say that.”

 

Dave didn’t know if she was going to cry or something weak. She looked down then up at the sky, trying to hold back, putting her hands back in her pockets.

_ _

 

_ Houston, Texas. _

 

_ “Tranny get out.” Dean growled into the door in the morning. _

 

_ Daia could hear something outside the door move. _

 

_ Dirk inhaled sharply, hiding again under the bed. _

 

_ Daia held a sword and had Dirk’s shades on her head and his clothing.  _

 

_ Daia pictured Dean reaching for the door. _

 

_ She reached it before him, and yanked it open, trying to shield him from looking in and seeing the real Dirk. _

 

_ “Tranny freak you decided to show your face today? Trying to be a real man?” Dean threatened. He reached out and pulled her through the door. “I guess today we’ll find out that you aren’t.” _

  
  


_ The strife began. _

  
  


_ Daia wasn’t winning. There was no way she would. It was just a question of how long she could last until Dean got bored or hungry. And if that would be enough time for Dirk to get to the ground and call someone. _

 

_ Between each strike, Dean whispered the ugliest things he could think of. And more than a few strikes hit, tearing new little wounds into her skin. _

 

_ “Tranny freak.” _

 

_ “I always knew you weren’t normal, didn’t think you were this f-ed up.” _

 

__ “I didn’t raise a boy I raised a wimpy girl who can’t even handle a sword.”   
  


_ “Where are your sisters. Running away like the girls they are?” _

 

_ “Your just a tranny to hide that you’ve always been a faggot. Do you think dressing up is going to make the girls like you?” _

 

_ “Your faggot sisters. Don’t pretend like I don’t know about them. One faggot means there’s more.” _

 

_ “Weak.” _

 

_ “You’re a monstrosity.” _

 

_ “Disgrace.” _

 

_ “Gross freak.” _

 

_ “Are you even human.” _

 

_ Daia felt herself - the real person in her getting beat out of her with every sentence, not every strike.  _

 

_ He eventually pushed her down into a corner where she was forced to cower while he casually walked away, eating food across the kitchen, eyes on her. Each flinch, he did, every glance forced Daia to tense up and look back. _

 

_ Daia was bleeding. All over. Cuts and nicks. Nothing too deadly, but at this rate. She couldn’t last. _

 

_ He eventually left her so that he could sleep. But before he did so, he barred up every exit. She could hardly move herself, just enough to rise to the sink and try and drink some water. _

 

_ The torment started again the next day. She was a tranny, a freak, a faggot, not a person, not a real one at any rate. She deserved death, the worst death, and the worst afterlife as well, burning in hell. _

  
_ So when the police finally burst through the barricaded door and took Dean away while Rose rushed in and rushed her down to a waiting ambulance, she could hardly find it in herself to acknowledge or even care. _


End file.
